Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to remote controls configured to control a set of appliances. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to adjusting the temporal spacings between command codes that are delivered from a remote control to a set of appliances.
Remote controls are typically hand-held electronic devices that are configurable to control a number of appliances. The appliances that a remote control may be configured to control include televisions (TVs), DVD players, stereo equipment (e.g., CD players, tuners, amplifiers, etc.), personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top-boxes (cable television tuners, satellite dish tuners, etc.), surround sound devices, other remote controls (e.g., blasters), media applications on a computer, set-top-boxes, blasters, or any other type of processor, etc. Some remote controls are also configured to control a heating system, a cooling system, lighting, window coverings, and the like.
The control of numerous appliances by a remote control requires that the temporal spacing of between the command codes issued by a remote control needs to be sufficient so that the appliances receiving the command codes may adequately process the command codes so that the functions associated with the command codes may be executed by the appliances. For example, a set of command codes might be transmitted from a remote control to a TV to both turn on the TV and to change the input of the TV to the cable television input. If the temporal spacing of the command codes is too small, the TV may be able to accept the command code for turning on the TV, but may be still processing the command code for turning on the TV and when the second command code is received by the TV, the TV will not be able to accept and/or process the command code for changing the input of the television. Therefore, the set of command codes issued to the TV will not have been executed in its entirety.
While sets of command codes for controlling corresponding sets of appliances are specified by the manufacturers of the appliances, the temporal spacing between command codes for the effective use of the command codes are often empirically determined by remote control manufactures. As the temporal spacings are often empirically determined, especially for controlling disparate appliances, the temporal spacings are often not optimized. Therefore, the temporal spacings often need to be adjusted so that the functions associated with a set of command codes may be correctly executed by a set of appliances. For many remote control users it is exceeding difficult to identify that their remote controls are not operating correctly due to temporal spacing problems. Further, once a temporal spacing problem has been identified, adjusting the temporal spacings between command codes is a daunting task for many users.
Therefore, new remote controls and new remote control operation methods are needed to help users identify whether a temporal spacing problem for command codes exists. Additionally, new remote controls and new remote control operation methods are also needed to help users correct temporal spacing problems for command codes. In order to enhance a user's experience in using a remote control to control the user's set of appliances, the sequence and the timing of commands should be optimized such that the time required for the appliances to execute a set of command codes and be set to various desired states (i.e., to be operational as desired) is minimized. New remote controls are needed that further operate in cooperation with a remote server to upload optimized temporal lengths for command codes and/or optimized ordering for command codes to the remote server and the remote server's database so that the remote server may provide to other remote controls (e.g., operated by other users) the optimized temporal lengths for command codes and/or the optimized ordering for command codes.